1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for creating, interacting with and deriving relevant scheduling information from the time representation of tasks via computer with a variety of display and manipulation capabilities.
2. Background of the Invention
The scheduling of scarce and valuable resources is a process which is critical to the success of almost every endeavor. The establishment of a series of time-phased tasks, the allocation of certain resources to those tasks, the identification of dependencies between tasks, and the interaction with those tasks to determine more efficient utilization of scarce resources is a process which, as a projects complexity grows, quickly becomes too complex and difficult for manual or mechanical means.
One approach to the complex scheduling problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,027 to Kelley which describes a transparent panel on which a network schedule is mounted. Magnetic markers are positioned on the network schedule to represent scheduled events and a vertical bar is moved continuously by a clock driving mechanism to indicate current time relative to the planned events. This invention is primarily a manual apparatus, however, and does not provide for computer-supported automated interaction among tasks in the overall schedule.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,258 to Tsugei et al. describes a schedule setting method whereby schedule information is handwritten on a display, the information is digitized and stored in memory, and an alarm is activated to inform the user when a scheduled starting time is near. This invention also does not provide computer-supported automated processing or interaction among scheduled events.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the use of computers and computer display systems for creating, accessing and manipulating all types of data. Project managers, project planners and other Gantt chart drawing programs are well known. U.S. Pat. No., 4,891,770 to Hollett relates to a computer aided design (CAD) system for inputting, processing, and displaying block diagrams. This invention however, uses a computer only to create and maintain a series of block diagrams. It's ability to allow tasks in a schedule to interact is severely limited and only operates with the block diagram format.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,743 to Rassman et al. describes a method and system for scheduling, monitoring, and dynamically managing a fixed set of resources using a computer system. In the Rassman invention, automated computer support does provide for a data base of information which is displayed relative to a fixed set of resources. While the data base can be updated, the invention does not provide for dynamic update of the information or for an interactive user interface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,057 to Strope et al. relates to a method for presenting electronic day calendar information along with data being processed by an application program. This invention provides for computer-supported display of calendar information simultaneously with information being provided by another application. While useful, this calendar information is not event-schedule oriented nor does it provide for user-interactive dynamic updating.
In all the art cited above, the level of computer-supported interactive manipulation of scheduled events and related data is rudimentary at best and frequently non-existent. The present invention seeks to solve this and other problems by providing for a comprehensive range of event-oriented schedule information to be input, processed, manipulated and displayed. The interactive user interface is truly dynamic and provides for numerous automated updates of linked information as the result of single manipulations. The full range of display options enables tailoring of a product that provides a maximum degree of usefulness to the user. Finally, all supporting data bases are interactively linked to the processing function and accessed via interactive user commands.